Smederevo Mayor Jasmina Vojinovic Arrested Over Landfill
The mayor of Smederevo, the head of the city administration and a public utility director are being held for up to 48 hours on suspicion of dumping waste at an illegal landfill.
Police in Smederevo arrested Mayor Jasmina Vojinovic on November 12, 2026, along with the head of the City Administration and the director of the public utility company “Zelenilo i groblja”. The arrests were made on the order of the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Smederevo and carried out by the Environmental Crime Unit of the Smederevo Police Department. The three are suspected of dumping waste at an illegal site in Radinac, near Smederevo, after the city landfill was closed.
Who was arrested and what are they suspected of?
In its statement, the police gave only initials: J. V. (55), mayor of Smederevo, I. S. (43), head of the Smederevo City Administration, and M. I. (43), director of the public utility company “Zelenilo i groblja”. The news portal N1 published their full names: Jasmina Vojinovic, Ivana Stamenkovic and Miroslav Ilic.
All three are suspected of failing to take measures to protect the environment. The utility company’s director is also accused of unlawfully building and putting into operation facilities and installations that pollute the environment. The suspects have been ordered held for up to 48 hours, after which they will be brought before the competent prosecutor along with a criminal complaint.
What led to the arrests?
The city landfill was closed at the end of September. According to the prosecutor’s office, as cited by N1, the suspects then chose a dump site near the city and disposed of garbage there without any permits. The site is in Radinac, on land owned by the city.
On November 2, police, the competent prosecutor and republic and city inspectors visited the location after receiving multiple complaints from residents. The police described what they found in their statement:
“Further inspections established that the public utility company ‘Zelenilo i groblja’ does not hold permits for disposing of municipal waste, nor any other documentation required to operate a landfill, and that the City Administration has no Local Waste Management Plan, nor any documentation for building a sanitary landfill.”
Guilt has not been established. For now, there are only grounds for suspicion.
Who is Jasmina Vojinovic?
Vojinovic is a member of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). She served as commissioner of the party’s City Board in Smederevo and later as its chair. Before becoming mayor, she was a member of the City Council, an adviser to the mayor of Smederevo and a coordinator for cooperation with councillor groups in the City Assembly.
Her name also surfaced in public in late October, when a group of citizens entered her office. They demanded her resignation after the SNS defeat in the parliamentary elections, and one of them took a portrait of Aleksandar Vucic off the wall. Vojinovic responded that the elections held were parliamentary, not local, and that she would not resign.
Media outlets do not report her words identically. According to N1, she said: “Let the two Smederevos and all of Serbia hear it.” Novosti reports that she would not resign “even if the two Smederevos and all of Serbia heard”. The incident was documented no later than October 31, when a video of the portraits being taken down was posted on social media.
What happens next?
The detention lasts 48 hours at most. After that, the suspects are brought before the competent prosecutor along with a criminal complaint, and the prosecutor decides how the proceedings continue. Neither the police statement nor the prosecutor’s office has said whether pre-trial detention will be sought.
